My girlfriend and I are doing this race for the first time. We are driving from Syracuse and will only have one car. We are staying overnight in Indian Lake. The shuttle appears to be full. What are the options for getting back to our car if we leave it at the start…aside from one of us riding back on our bike or hitching?

I did my first BFC last year and it was great. I’ve done a lot of dirt road racing and hydration seems to be a personal choice, water bottle vs. camelback. You will see a lot of water bottles scattered along the road in rough sections, a potential crash hazard if you hit one, and potential of finishing thirsty if it’s your bottle that’s dropped. I go with a small camelback. Your tire choice sounds good. I use a 1.9-2″ dry condition tire on my rigid 29er on dirt road, a file tread cx tire if on cx bike and dry condition 3.8 if in a fat bike category. As far as the start, if you think you will be competitive for age/category podium then start near the front….if you are doing it just to ride it and complete it then don’t start at the front.

1. In watching some of the videos on youtube I see allot of folks wearing the camel packs for water. Is this a fairly common practice? I’m assuming it may save on time vs stopping at water stations. Then again, theres always the good ole water bottle method.

2. I’ll be riding a mtn bike and was thinking of changing up my tires to something that is more flat or smooth in the middle and knobby on the sides. Any recommendation? Or is this a good way to go?

3. How does the timing work? With 800+ riders was just curious how that works. Does everyone start at 1030 and when you cross the line is your finish time? I would assume starting up front would be an advantage if that’s how it works?

1) Some people wear hydration packs, others ( like myself ) on road/cross bikes that can accomodate bottle cages uses bottles, etc. There are quite a few water stations along the route, and in the past two years I’ve seen some people who carry no water at all. Generally, there’s no stopping at the water stations–you grab one as you go by. ( And try not to splash/whack the volunteers! )

2) It really depends on the road conditions. In general, it’s typical fire-road; fairly well packed dirt and gravel, with some sandy stretches in the plains. A few sections with some pretty substantial rocks and holes. I’ve ridden the past two years on 42mm file-tread tires and had no problems at all. If it ends up being wet this spring, the road could turn muddy, so you’ll really just have to decide as the day gets closer which tires you want to use. There have been a couple of times in past years when it was a mud-fest.

3) It’s a mass start, so yes, the timing begins at the starter gun for everyone. And yes, starting up front would be an advantage. When you stage up, they’ll ask for the fast riders to start up front, and the progressively slower ones farther back. So if you’re not going to be a 2-hour rider, you should be in the middle or farther back when you stage up so as to not cause problems from people who have a realistic chance at medaling. I ride the course in around 3:00 hours, so I start around 3/4 of the way from the front. Invariably there’s a clot of people whose aspirations don’t match their actual capabilities, and they end up interfering with everyone behind them.

All in all, it’s a hugely fun race. People are always in a good mood, the course isn’t at all technically challenging, so for people like me who are out there mostly to enjoy the experience and make some personal records it works out very well.